Life briefly got in the way, but my long sabbatical is done and here are a few reviews of stuff I caught over the past couple of months, starting with Marvel’s Eternals. This film did gain something of a pocket fandom over its box office run, but it was one of the least well-received of recent MCU films as far as the mainstream critics were concerned. Still, I’ve said before that I can always appreciate comic book films trying to bring something unique to the table or their distinct approaches, and there are ways in which Eternals still sticks out in spite of some of its faults.
Throughout multiple millennia across time, the title heroes battle twisted alien monsters known as “deviants”, and we’re not talking about fan artists. The psychic Sersi (Gemma Chan), her eye beam-blasting partner Ikaris (Richard Madden), the charismatic energy manipulator Kingo (Kumail Naijiani), superfast Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), the illusionist Sprite (Lia McHugh), tech expert Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), mind-manipulating Druig (a brooding Barry Keoghan), the superstrong Gilgamesh (Don Lee), weapons wielder Thena (Angelina Jolie), and their healing leader Ajak (Salma Hayek) are specifically assigned by a giant space creature named Arishem (voiced by popular Megatron actor David Kaye) to stick to tackling the deviants and remain on Earth until they’re told their mission is done. Over the years, the team gradually drifts apart until strange new developments force them together again.
Said developments involve the mysterious death of Ajak, the sudden return of the deviant attacks, and shocking new revelations about exactly what Arishem wants the Eternals to do in the long term. The squad needs to hook up in order to change the fate of the entire world, in spite of their differences and newly evolved outlooks on humanity.
Chloe Zhao before hopping into this production was mostly known for her work in the indie scene, even earning herself a Best Picture win for Nomadland. She lends a distinctly moody vibe to Eternals, and I’ve mentioned this before with MCU films like Shang-Chi that they reminded me of a DC film in some ways.
I *really* felt the stereotypical DC atmosphere here, because his film has a penchant for unceremoniously cutting off any slight bits of comic relief. Kingo may be something of a clown (at least when compared to the other Eternals), but circumstances force him to be a sad clown. Even after his fun Bollywood segment, it only takes a brief mention of Ajax’s death for the mood to suddenly shift. Gilgamesh is all jovial and inviting the heroes to lunch? Thanks, but Ajak is dead, BTW.
There’s also Druig’s disillusionment with the world as he retreats to his own makeshift island colony, Sprite’s angst over her forever being trapped in a childlike body., Phastos’ sorrow at how humans have become more warlike in spite of how the Eternals encouraged them to use their inventions for good, and Thena’s battles with a mind-rot condition causing her to attack her friends for the Eternals to also contend with.
Zhao’s directing style here still allows for moments of Marvel’s trademark humor to shine through, but even with that it still feels restrained. She had mentioned during the buildup being influenced by Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel, and it’s apparent in the levels of internalized conflicts our heroes have to deal with. If you thought the Guardians of the Galaxy were dysfunctional and argumentive, this crew makes them almost look like the Get-Along Gang in comparison.
There are some points where it comes off like they’re rushing through the story, even though Zhao makes enough time to give each Eternal some good development. I know there’s a lot of material from the books being condensed into the film, so for long-time fans of this franchise, there’ll be plenty for them to get into.
But I think the more relatively melancholy tone of this movie and the many subplots it tries to work in might trip up some moviegoers. Superhero films that go for the “deconstruction” angle have always been controversial, especially in Dawn Of Justice’s wake, but I feel they’re fine once in a while so long as they’re not overloading the cape scene. To me, they’re the kinds of properties that are better served for more long-form narratives, rather than just two-and-a-half hours.
I’m going to second what a number of folks have been saying on our boards that Eternals would have been better served as a Disney+ series, because the vibe and this kind of story would likely work better with three more hours of runtime added. A ten-person super-team who all have their own personal arcs in one debut movie is probably a bit overwhelming for casual audiences. It’d be one thing if we were talking about being introduced to five or seven Eternals, and remember the 25 to 30 or so heroes in Avengers Endgame all had multiple years and movies worth of evolution for the public to digest, and really come to know these characters before they all battled Thanos.
So if you’re looking for a simpler “popcorn friendly/I just want to have a good time” comic book film, aside from a few Kingo quips here and there, Eternals is perhaps gonna be more of a hard sell because of the size of the core cast, all of the deep ideas Zhao wants the audience to take away, and the not-so-easy answers to hard questions the Eternals have to ask themselves. But it’s unique among much of the MCU, and there are some strong performances and nice visuals to go along with that. I’ll mildly recommend it especially if you’re a comics die-hard who’s interested in how they translated to the silver screen, while also understanding how divisive it is.
But what did you think? If you’d had the chance to stream it, let us know how you felt as always on FAN’s social media!